B&H postpones flights and reports losses

B&H cabin crew...waiting for passengers

Despite the much publicised arrival of B&H Airlines’ Boeing B737-400, provided on behalf of owner Turkish Airlines, the Bosnian carrier has once again postponed the launch of its new services. Flights to Dusseldorf (to operate twice per week) and Berlin (which will also operate twice per week) have been postponed by yet another week with the flights now launching on May 26, rather than May 19. The only explanation for the cancellation of the service can be low ticket sales. The airline was forced to terminate flights from Tuzla to Frankfurt earlier this year due to low ticket sales. Yesterday, the airline launched its flights to Stockholm (with a 30 minute delay) while its maiden flight to Vienna is scheduled for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the airline’s CEO Nudžeim Rečica, publicised last years financial result reporting that the airline incurred a loss of 1 million Euros. The bad financial performance is being blamed on an unstable American dollar, the global financial crisis and the extremely high price of fuel in the first half of the year. B&H Airlines carried around 70.000 passengers in 2008 and faced competition from a variety of carriers. Up until now over 80% of Sarajevo’s traffic has been generated by airlines originating from somewhere other than Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the first three months of 2009, B&H Airlines is reporting significantly lower passenger figures compared to last year. The airline’s CEO hopes that things will pick up during the summer season.